Charting Bengaluru descent into urban chaos through 14 neighbourhood maps
By Mohan Raju JS , Jyothi Koduganti & Shriya Anand
Published in Scroll.in - Jan 23, 2018

The city�s 500-year history is visible in its urban landscape.

The history of Bengaluru � as indeed that of any other city � is marked by the constant emergence of new dominant groups, each with its own set of imaginations, from Kempe Gowda in the 16th century to the IT Moghuls of the 21st century. Each distinct phase of history is legible in the urban landscape, especially in its constant, yet dynamic street networks that offer an understanding of city planning, and Bengaluru�s long journey.

The pre-colonial era
Kempe Gowda�s Bengaluru was located within the walls of the old trading city that lay along two main roads � Chikpete Main Road and Avenue Road. These divided the area into Doddapete (big market) and Chikkapete (small market). Chikpete, which runs in an east-west direction, is characterised by a dense and narrow cluster of roads, designed largely for pedestrian traffic, residences and commercial activity centres. The petes (the Kannada word for markets) were organised based on caste and professions.

Owing to overcrowding and poor sanitary conditions in the old city, Chamarajpet was developed in 1892 as the old city�s first planned residential extension by Chamarajendra Wadiyar, then the ruler of Mysore. Initially, residents were hesitant to move out of the pete and into the new extension, but the deadly plague of 1897 forced them to relent. Rectangular in shape, the Chamarajpet layout has five main roads and nine cross roads, with housing plots of a uniform area and building height of no more than four feet. This was to ensure that the residents could see the maharaja�s procession regardless of where their plot was located.


Survey of the bounderies of Purgunna of Bangalore - 1800

Credit: Copyright � The British Library Board